Columbus couple to marry on lucky day

The number seven can have different connotations for people all over the world. Catholics have seven virtues. The Qur’an makes about 25 references to the number seven. Hindus recognize the seven chakras of the body. The Torah and the Bible prominently feature the number seven. Then there’s Lucky 7. But this year the number seven is not just for the spiritual or those headed to Vegas. It’s for couples who are getting married.

This weekend thousands of people will either get married or witness a marriage. Saturday is the seventh day of the seventh month of the seventh year. And many couples consider the triple sevens the luckiest day they could tie the knot.

Time magazine dubbed it the Most Popular Wedding Day Ever. And whether you think so, it’s quite possibly the most popular wedding day in the past 100 years – since 07/07/07 will likely come around only once in our lifetime.

theknot.com, a popular website for the engaged, said it has more than 38,000 couples registered to be wed on the triple seven day. That’s more than three times an average Saturday in July.

Vicki Bennett is an ordained minister and runs the Las Vegas-style matrimonial venue Weddings R Us on McCutcheon Road in Columbus.

Bennett marries couples impromptu Monday through Friday and by appointment on weekends. Her average Saturday sees about, you guessed it, seven weddings. So what’s this Saturday going to look like for her?

“Totally insane,” Bennett said.

She has 13 back to back weddings, and two brides are fighting over the fourteenth and final time slot.

“I’m going to stay open an extra hour. I have how many elopements? Five elopements and the rest are scattered between our formal chapel and our garden pavilion. And it’s just going to be a crazy, crazy day. I had no idea that people were going to get this nuts over this date,” she said.

So what’s Bennett going to do about two brides and just one opening?

“The first one who comes through with the credit card number is going to get the slot and that’s going to be it. And then I’m going to have another crying bride on my hands, which means I’m probably going to have to open at like 9 o’clock. And I’m already staying open an extra hour. So, (would you do that?). Yes. I can’t leave a bride not to have her wedding day of choice,” Bennett said.

Katie Pickard and Kevin Wanner, both from Dublin, are saying their “I Do’s” on the lucky day.

The chosen wedding day started out being one of several dates convenient for both families and available with the wedding coordinator. But the more Katie and Kevin thought about July 7, the more it made sense to them that it should be their wedding date. When Kevin was a child his cousins called him “Kevin Seven.” And other than it rhyming, Kevin is not sure why he received the nickname.

“After we were engaged and we found out the seventh of July was going to be the probable date for our wedding it really went over well with my family. They thought that was pretty funny and got a pretty good kick out of Kevin Seven’ getting married on July 7th,” Wanner said.

After the couple set their wedding date in stone, Katie says they just ran with the triple “seven” theme.

“We both, you know, think that it’s lucky, you know, for us. We’re getting married at 7 o’clock. We each have seven people on each side. And we actually, our wedding favors are going to be lottery tickets. And we just got the idea of also putting a 2007 lucky penny on it, too,” Pickard said.

Devoted to Details’ owner Jamie Rapavy will be the one who makes sure everything goes as smoothly as possible for Katie and Kevin this Saturday. Rapavy said she and her colleagues are doing three weddings this weekend.

“We’ve had a great response actually for that weekend. And we have had to turn people away because we can only take three weddings every weekend. And we’ve even had last minute, I think just a few weeks ago, an inquiry on that date,” she said.

So why do couples choose the dates they do for their matrimonial vows?

Rapavy said there are many reasons like work and schools schedules or when all the family can get together. Some couples even plan their weddings around the Ohio State football season. But one thing is for sure, couples getting married this Saturday should not have a hard time remebering their anniversaries.